1. ASKING QUESTIONS: *
a. A question is an opening to creation.
b. A question is an unsettled and unsettling issue.
c. A question is an invitation to creativity.
d. A question is a beginning of adventure.
e. A question is seductive foreplay.
f. A question is a disguised answer.
g. A question pokes and prods that which has not been poked
and prodded.
h. A question is a point of departure. i. A question has no end and no beginning.
j. A question wants a playmate.
2. IMAGRY: **
a. Relax.
b. Ask your intuition for an appropriate image, i.e. a
symbol, scene or image.
c. Accept whatever image emerges. Surrender (don't judge or
sort).
d. Make the image vivid. Encourage emotions and many sense
modes (feelings, sights, sounds, smells, tastes).
e. If you don't understand the image, ask you intuition for
another one.
f. Enjoy the images.
"There is no use in trying," said Alice. "One can't
believe impossible things."
"I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the
Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-
an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many a
six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis
Carroll, _Alice in Wonderland_.
4. BRAINSTORMING (see attached Rules for Brainstorming).
5. ANALOGY (similarity between two things otherwise dissimilar,
i.e. velcro is like burdock burrs clinging to clothes).
6. DREAMS: (Walt Disney said, "If you can dream it, you can do
it." The navigators in _Dune_ dreamed they were somewhere
else, and they were.)
7. DRAWING: (doodle to evoke images and connections).
9. MEDITATING: (mind clearing).
10. MATRIX ANALYSIS (what is a painting?)
11. SCAMPER
a. Substitute?
b. Combine?
c. Adapt?
d. Modify?
e. Put to other uses?
f. Eliminate?
g. Reverse? (roles, look at things upside down) Rearrange?
(patterns, space, components).
CREATIVITY BLOCKS:
1. Accepting conventional wisdom as an appropriate approach.
2. Lacking time to investigate or elaborate on new ideas.
3. Seeking only to satisfy the perceived needs of bosses.
4. Having tunnel vision, compartmentalizing problems.
5. Looking for quick yes/no answers.
6. Fearing rejection of ideas.
7. Being afraid of making mistakes.
8. Expecting others to be the creative ones ("I'm not creative"
excuse).
9. Being unwilling to question others.
10. Being unwilling to accept others' input.
11. Being unwilling to collaborate.
ENHANCERS:
1. Assume that every experience you have can positively stimulate
your personal growth.
2. Discover the fundamental truth and the fundamental illusion in
the barriers you face.
3. Clearly envision how you want to be (what you want to be doing
and having).
4. Evoke the situation and emotions surrounding the block,
holding strongly to your vision and your inner strength.
5. Take action and/or communicate with another person.
6. Allow yourself time. Have patience and honor the seasons of
creativity.
PICASSO: "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth."
* Ray, M., and R. Myers, _Creativity in Business_, Doubleday &
Co., New York, 1986.
** Miller, W.C., _The Creative Edge_, Addison-Wesley, Reading,
Massachusetts, 1987. The Techniques, Blocks and Enhancers in this
outlines are suggested by Miller.